BYD Dolphin: Why Australia's cheapest EV is terrible
It’s time to say things the mainstream motoring media won’t about the newest, cheapest electric vehicle Australians can buy. Here are the inconvenient facts about the BYD Dolphin…
The new BYD Dolphin is Australia's cheapest and arguably also the worst, the slowest and the most cynical EV. Who doesn't want that?
In this report, I'm going to lay all of that out for you and then make space for one less car industry Christmas card.
BYD is a kind of mad psychology experiment currently, and if you want to sign up as a lab rat for the $40,000 clinical trial operation ‘Chinese Tesla’, knock yourself out. It's a free country - almost.
Let’s assess BYD to begin with and their journey so far in Australia, because they're so new and perspective is actually quite important, especially if you're about to slam $40K down on some retail product.
Watch the full video above to get to the Dolphin’s comparative, objective mediocrity, especially if you already know the BY backstory (which is important to know, because what you're getting into bed with matters.
First there was a regulatory compliance breach for the ATTO 3 uncovered in October last year by Joshua Dowling. The vehicle failed to meet the child safety restraint provisions mandated by federal motor vehicle compliance legislation. This suggest incompetence at a corporate level because this stuff should be bread-and-butter car industry box-ticking.
Secondly, BYD’s commitment to corrosion >> which is kind of a bad look. They still say today on their website:
the process undertaken when rust proofing all BYD models during production is of the highest global standards using the latest technological processes
Okay, but that doesn't really match the photographs, does it? They do look quite rusty. An unkind person might say it looks a bit shit. Certainly it seems quite unlike the “latest technological processes” to me; it all looks a bit half-arsed frankly.
Watch the full review to find out exactly why the BYD Dolphin is such an overhyped, cynical electric vehicle to buy compared with its nearest rival, the MG 4 Excite 51 >>.
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